


Blunt Force Trauma

by dyingpoet



Category: The Outsiders - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Child Abuse, Head Injury, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Slice of Life, dallas is emotionally stunted okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-18 19:05:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19340728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dyingpoet/pseuds/dyingpoet
Summary: Johnny's never been to the hospital before. After a bad night he ends up there with Dallas





	Blunt Force Trauma

**Author's Note:**

> yo got this sick prompt on tumblr and speed wrote it in like 40min and now im dying

Johnny had taken a lot of beatings in his life, but this one was up there on his top five list of the absolute worst.

Stumbling to the lot, he figured that he should’ve seen it coming. He hadn’t seen much of his old man over the last week, and he’d let himself get too comfortable at home. Something must have set him off before he’d staggered into the house, so drunk Johnny could smell it the minute the front door closed, because he was hollering before Johnny could sit up.

It had gotten pretty bad after that and he didn’t want to get into the details. He just wanted to sleep. 

The busted out pickup he usually crashed in was waiting for him like it always was, and the couple of steps he had left to get there felt like a mile. He knew his ribs were messed up, but it was his head that was killing him. The ground kept swimming at his feet and it felt like he was still getting kicked. And it was making him so  _ tired _ . 

So once he got to the pickup, he already felt half asleep, and without really looking he crawled in and let himself fall onto the metal. Except he didn’t hit metal, and he felt someone’s legs kicking him off and toward the edge of the flatbed.

“The hell?”

Dallas’ voice hit Johnny’s ears like a wire edge, and he grimaced as he struggled to sit up without crying out. “Hey, Dal.”

Dallas came into view, looking like Johnny’d woken him up when he fell on him, hair sticking up every which way as he squinted at the younger boy. “Johnny? That you?”

Johnny hummed in response, already making to get out of the truck before Dallas could get a good look at him. He always lost his mind whenever Johnny got beaten bad, and he was too tired to handle it.  _ God  _ he was tired.

“Yeah, I was just leavin’ though, gotta head back to uh-”

Dallas didn’t hear him though, he’d already moved forward and grabbed onto Johnny’s arm, studying his face while his whole body tensed. “Who?”

Johnny frowned, squirming in Dallas’ grip and failing to move back. “‘S’not a big deal Dal, lemme go.”

“Your old man?”

Defeated, Johnny quit struggling and nodded. When he got the guts to look Dallas in the eye though, he didn’t look angry like he thought he would, he looked  _ nervous _ . Johnny’d never really seen that look in his eye before. 

“Dal? You okay?”

Moving to lightly take Johnny’s chin in his hand, Dallas looked over Johnny’s face and glazed eyes, focusing on him for another second before getting up. “C’mon.”

“C’mon where?” Johnny asked, frowning when Dallas pretty much picked him up under the arms and got him down on the ground and walking with him. “Where we goin’?”

“Hospital,” Dallas said, voice clipped and he pulled Johnny by the arm toward Buck’s car. Johnny hadn’t noticed that before. 

When Johnny stopped dead Dallas turned around and reached out for him again, but Johnny stepped back.

“The hospital? It ain’t that bad Dal, we don’t gotta do that, man.”

Dallas just grabbed his arm again and pulled him toward the car. “We  _ do  _ gotta, your head’s messed up.”

“It’s gotten messed up before.”

“Not like this, Johnnycakes.”

As Johnny pulled open the door and basically collapsed into the passenger seat, he felt his ears ring and he had to bite his lip to hold back a wince from the pain coming from, well pretty much everywhere. Maybe Dallas was right.

* * *

 

So Dallas was right. The nurse told him he had a severe concussion, and had nearly fractured a bone in his skull, aside from his cracked ribs and other cuts and bruises. She didn’t look like she bought the whole ‘I got into a fight’ bit completely, even though it wasn’t totally a lie, but Johnny figured she didn’t have enough on him to report anything. 

It was actually his first time in the hospital. He usually just went to the Curtis’ or slept it off in the lot, so he felt sort of lost when the nurse gave him some paid meds along with a sheet on what he should or shouldn’t do until his concussion was better and sent him into the hall.

He’d already taken two of the pills, which the nurse said might make him tired and he was already starting to feel it as he walked slowly down the white hallway. Dallas was up and out of his chair before Johnny got more than three steps.

“You good, kid?”

Johnny nodded, accepting Dallas’ pat on the back with a slight wince, and he felt the other boy back off. “They gave me some pills and directions and stuff, I dunno how I’m gonna pay the bill though-”

“Done,” Dallas said, waving at the front desk. “Don’t worry about it.”

Eyebrows shooting into his hairline, Johnny looked down, feeling sort of guilty. “Thanks, Dallas.”

Dallas hummed, and the two of them made their way down the hallway and out the door of the hospital. 

If Johnny was thinking straight he might have realized he’d never seen Dallas be so drawn back and quiet. But real fear was something nobody had ever really seen in Dallas, so it wasn’t surprising Johnny didn’t notice. But Dallas felt it, and it hurt.

* * *

 

Johnny came to on the Curtis’ couch. He knew it before he even opened his eyes just from the familiar smell of it and the noise. 

“He’s wakin’ up.”

“Well now he is dumbass, ya can’t keep quiet for a minute to let the kid sleep?”

“He’s been sleepin’ for an hour, how much does he need?”

“I’m gonna whip you if you don’t shut up, Two-bit.”

Blinking his eyes open, Johnny saw Two-bit and Darry standing over him, the latter kneeling down next to him as soon as he saw Johnny’s eyes open. “Hey kiddo, how’re you feelin’?”

Johnny yawned big and he saw Two-bit grin out of the corner of his eyes. “Better, how’d I get here?”

“Dallas came over with you a couple’a hours ago,” Darry said, jerking his head toward Dallas, passed out on the recliner. “Said he took ya to the hospital.”

Johnny nodded.

“Also said you got beat pretty bad.”

Johnny nodded again, slower this time and he shrank under Darry’s gaze. “Yeah, sorry ‘bout that.”

Darry raked a hand through his hair and sighed. “Ain’t nothin’ to be sorry for, I’m just glad Dallas took ya to the hospital, he said you’re gonna be okay, got some pills and stuff.”

“Yeah,” Johnny mumbled. He still felt so tired.

Darry must have seen it, because he stood up and ruffled Johnny’s hair as he did. “Get some sleep, kid. You’re stayin’ here for a while.”

Johnny didn’t have the chance to thank him or protest, or both, before he fell asleep. Damn pain meds.

* * *

 

“Johnny? You awake?” 

It was dark when Johnny opened his eyes, rubbing them to get the sleep out and letting them adjust to the dark. “Huh?”

He turned his head to see Dallas not a foot from his face, visibly relaxing once Johnny focused in on him. “Hey, kid.”

“Wha’s goin’ on?” Johnny slurred, still tired. He tried to push himself up but Dallas put a hand on his chest and pushed him back down.

“Nothin’, nothing’s goin’ on,” Dallas said, and his voice was softer than Johnny had ever heard it. Maybe he was just tired too.

Shifting a bit to let his head rest on the arm of the couch, Johnny stretched out his arms. “Oh okay.”

Dallas didn’t say anything else, and Johnny frowned at him, not quite sure why the other had woken him up, or why he was being so quiet. It was out of character.

“I uh,” Dallas said, clearing his throat, “I wanted to make sure you were alright out here, your head wasn’t hurtin’ or nothing.”

Johnny yawned. “It ain’t, and my ribs feel better. Nurse wrapped ‘em real good.”

They fell into silence again as Dallas nodded, and Johnny didn’t break the silence. He just watched Dallas look from him to the couch and back again. He moved back a little.

Wordlessly, Dallas staggered up and crawled onto the couch next to Johnny, his back pressed up against Johnny’s chest.

Johnny didn’t really know what to do, this was all not like Dallas at all, but he’d been acting strange since Johnny got hurt, and this felt nice. He didn’t want to ruin it.

“I’m, uh, I’m happy you’re okay, John,” Dallas said, the use of his given name making the whole sentence feel soft in the dark air. “Real happy.”

Johnny blinked, taking a risk and throwing an arm over Dallas and relaxing when Dallas didn’t shrug it off. “Thanks for takin’ me to the hospital and everything.”

“No problem.”

After a while of lapsed silence, Johnny felt himself start to fall asleep again. Dallas was warm and solid and he was still exhausted. He felt his breathing align with Dallas’, and if he focused hard enough he could feel the other’s heartbeat through his chest. It was nice.

A hand grabbed his, feeling like it was clutching a life line, right as everything started to get dark and fuzzy, and Johnny didn’t dwell on it.

“G’night, John.”

Johnny hummed and squeezed his hand. Dallas squeezed back. And he fell back asleep. 

**Author's Note:**

> ayyy we loved that repressed emotional vulnerability at the end ;^)
> 
> kudos/comments are my bread and fucking butter im DYING (also yall can send me prompts on tumblr @dying-poet if u want!!)


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